To Counter Anti-Democracy Efforts, It’s Time to Invest in Florida Year-Round

Florida is ground zero for what is known among organizers and philanthropists as “boom-and-bust” funding—meaning money flows in during big election cycles and dries up immediately after. Yet electoral and issue-based organizing is a 24/7 operation. In recent years, these efforts have led to restoring voting rights to 1.4 million Floridians, raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, and legalizing medical marijuana. These massive wins were led by the people of Florida, even as the legislature acted against their will. 

Boom-and-bust patterns are sure to pose a particular challenge in 2024, given the state’s six-week abortion ban officially taking effect is now coupled with a citizen-initiated opportunity for Florida voters to undo the ban this November and enshrine protections for abortion in the state Constitution. 

Rather than funding a single issue or candidate during an election cycle, an integrated voter engagement approach, with year-to-year financial and capacity-building support for gender and reproductive justice groups, is the most essential element of a healthy pro-democracy funding environment.

Drawing the Line: How Gerrymandering Determines Whose Votes Have Power

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A healthy, functioning democracy operates on two core principles: that each person’s vote counts equally, and that the law applies to everyone the same, regardless of wealth, race, gender or political party. Gerrymandering, the practice of drawing district boundaries to advantage a specific party or community, poses a grave threat to both of these foundational principles.

The ongoing battle against gerrymandering will determine whose votes will have value, whose voices will be heard and what public policy ideas on issues like women’s and civil rights stand a chance of becoming law.

(This article originally appears in the Spring 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)

The Best Autistic and Autistic-Coded Characters in Animation

Three years ago, I wrote a piece for Ms. about Hollywood’s blatant and continued exclusion of Autistic people, as well as the ableist tropes film and TV have continued to push in its depiction of Autism. Since the article was published, I have seen more positive strides taken in terms of Autism representation in the media, with many of those strides coming from the world of animation.

As we wind down World Autism Month, here are some of my favorite Autistic and Autistic-coded characters in animation.

Florida’s Six-Week Abortion Ban Will Force Longer Waits, Further Travels and Higher Costs

May 1 marks the first day that Florida’s law banning abortion after just six weeks of pregnancy takes effect. 

The six-week cutoff effectively functions as a total ban. Pregnancy is determined from the last menstrual cycle; conception usually occurs in the second week, and the first sign of pregnancy—a missed period—typically appears around four weeks. This timeline gives patients as little as two weeks to recognize their pregnancy, schedule their appointment and arrange travel … assuming they realize they’re pregnant at all.

Come Nov. 4, Florida voters will decide whether to amend the Florida Constitution to enshrine the right to abortion.

War on Women Report: Anti-Abortion Activists Desperate to Keep Abortion Off 2024 Ballot; NAIA Bars Trans Women From Competing

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U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report: Missouri anti-abortion activists try to trick voters out of supporting a ballot measure to protect abortion rights; 70 percent of school shooters committed violence against women before or during their attacks; Connecticut may join Maine, Texas, California and New York in adopting coerced debt protections; Fox News spent only 12 minutes covering a ruling from the all-Republican Arizona Supreme Court reviving a 160-year-old state law that bans abortion; and more.

Overturning Harvey Weinstein’s Conviction Shows Poor Understanding of Violence Against Women

Context is everything when it comes to sexual and physical violence against women. Harvey Weinstein had more than a “propensity” for sexual assault; he demonstrated a serially predatory pattern of behavior of targeting and violating women and learned from the systems that enabled him that he could get away with it. Knowledge of this pattern is not prejudicial; it is necessary for a thorough understanding of the perpetrator.

The overturning of Weinstein’s conviction merely emphasizes the degree to which protection of sexual predators at their victims’ expense and permissibility of male violence against women are entrenched in our institutions. If our legal system cannot appreciate the relevance of historical patterns of behavior, we can never combat violence against women successfully.

An Introduction to Catalonia’s Feminist Administration

For many decades, sexual and reproductive rights have been at the core of the global feminist struggle—but only an unapologetically feminist administration puts them at the center of the political agenda. Such is the progressive turn the government of Catalonia, an autonomous region in northeastern Spain, assumed in May 2021 when it created a Ministry of Equality and Feminisms.

In October 2021, this new ministry drafted the national strategy for sexual and reproductive rights. This was founded on the premise that the personal is political, so it must also be public policy. This strategy sought to guarantee the effective exercise of existing rights—particularly abortion, long-term contraception and sexuality education.

Many women are now asking: What about perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause?

The Rise of Deepfakes Demands Legislative Action

Women represent 99 percent of those targeted by deepfake “pornography,” which makes up 98 percent of all deepfake videos online. In 2023 alone, the volume of deepfake abuse videos surpassed the total of all previous years combined, with the number of nonconsensual videos doubling annually.

Those nonconsensual images are created and shared with the goal of humiliating and degrading the women and girls in them. The fallout is immense, and it goes beyond personal harm. The silencing effect leads to people stepping back from vital arenas like politics, journalism and public discourse. But that’s the point of this misogyny, isn’t it? It’s gender-based violence at its core.

Urgent action is needed, and effective legislation is a critical starting point.